Christmas Movie Madness

‘Tis the season for all of the holiday specials, Christmas movies, and related seasonal entertainment to be played and replayed ad infinitum on TV. I’ve noticed some new offerings this year (i.e. what’s with this hot-mess-looking-craziness starring Tori Spelling about rival holiday singing groups?) but I tend to stick pretty closely to the classics – the Christmas-wouldn’t-be-quite-complete-without-them holiday staples like the animated Grinch with Boris Karloff narrating, for one. I was home the other weekend flipping through the various Christmas options and my Mom astutely observed, “You know, a lot of Christmas movies aren’t very good”. So true, Mom. Sad, but true.

A Jimmy Stewart Education

In the summer of 1997 I worked at a movie theatre. Around the time I was hired, the small-town theatre went from two screens to three – a big deal at the time. I sold tickets. I ate a lot of popcorn. I saw a lot of free movies. I collected movie posters. I flirted with fantasies of becoming a screenwriter while reading Syd Field’s tips on “How to Write a Screenplay”. And I met a lot of people who I would genuinely call “movie buffs” – regulars who would come to see whatever was playing just because they loved movies.